Design Guidelines for Input and Navigation
4/8/2010
Single-handed input and navigation is an important factor to consider for hardware design. Devices should support one–handed use, and not significantly favor the use of one hand over another. Many devices will have some amount of left–right asymmetry such as volume controls on one side and camera operation controls on the other. This is expected and acceptable. Other asymmetries are acceptable as long as basic, common operations such as placing calls, saving contacts, accessing voice mail, triple–tapping or text messages are available to either hand.
Users expect to be able to operate their devices with one hand, even when it is a limited experience. Device design should account for this user desire, and support both one and two–handed use. Amount of support for one and two–handed use scenarios should be gauged on device type and form; user expectations may differ depending on the type of device and specific form.